It’s All About the Butternut, Baby

One of the best things I've eaten in an airport was a roasted butternut and feta sandwich in Melbourne. Simple, earthy and salty all at the same time. We're no strangers to the virtues of butternut squash around here, and in fact, my grinchiness about pumpkin this year has sent me straight into the arms of butternut squash. Roasted, it makes great soup, salad, risotto, pasta, even pizza sauce. Even with a good, sharp peeler, it may feel like prepping a butternut is taking your life into your own hands, but it's worth the effort.

ByMichelleOctober 15, 20130Comments

Baking Cooking Dessert

Finding My Way Back: Maple Walnut Squares

Walnuts. Ruiner of fudgy chocolate brownies, scourge of chocolate chip cookies, I’ve tolerated you, but there’s no love lost between us. You’re slightly bitter and unless you’re incognito, almonds and pecans rocket past you on my list of favorite nuts. Until now. Until this recipe. Paired with sweet maple syrup, you are magnificent. If, like…

ByMichelleOctober 13, 20130Comments

Dessert Recipes

Fig Ice Cream Sandwiches with Speculoos Cookies

"Slightly Gingery. The Ed Sheeran of cookies,” says the sign at Trader Joe’s. Can you guess? Speculoos, aka biscoff cookies. Now, I’m late to the biscoff cookie crazy. I’ve never really flown Delta, which is where a lot of people first encountered a 2-pack of those cinnamony, gingersnappy cookies. Long known in Belgium, those little cookies have been one of the positives airline passengers can point to about flying in the last few years.

Gingersnaps have been a favorite of mine since childhood, thanks to little purple bags of Pogen's cookies. But I never paid much mind to speculoos. I mean, I’ve had a packet of them in my cupboard for the last several months, just languishing. So when I bumped into this blueberry mascarpone tart with a speculoos cookie crust, a light flicked on in my head. Speculoos cookies would be perfect for ice cream sandwiches.

ByMichelleSeptember 7, 20130Comments

Book Reviews Main Course Recipes

Chicken Saute with Green Beans, Tomato and Mint

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was lamenting the end of summer. Something about back-to-school signals an end to the summer fun, but the truth of it is, it has been a grrrrrrrreat summer in Seattle. Maybe the best one we’ve had in the handful of years we’ve lived here. A long summer of…

ByMichelleAugust 28, 20130Comments

Recipes Salads Side Dishes

In Season: Kale, Asian Pear & Pomegranate Salad

Creating balance is sometimes about restraint. You don’t always need flavor to smack you in the face to have a wow moment. As you look at the piles of apples and pears in the produce section, it’s never been more true. My favorite eating apple these days is the Honeycrisp. It’s not shy. It’s crunchy…

ByMichelleNovember 14, 20120Comments

Baking Recipes

Ginger Spice Banana Bread is the Holiday Bake You Need

Saturday morning. It’s still dark – moon-is-still-up-dark – at 7 a.m. You check email, Twitter and Facebook while still lying in bed. You get up, brush your teeth, let the dog out and then stumble into the kitchen to make coffee. It’s light by now, and there they are on the counter, shoved off to…

ByMichelleNovember 4, 20121Comment

Main Course Recipes

First Day of Fall: Poblano Corn Chowder

It finally rained on Saturday morning, just briefly, but with a clap of thunder that scared the bejeezus out of H. and sent her into our shower and then downstairs to her safe spot. In California it was fireworks, here it's the occasional thunderstorm. Poor ol' girl. Skies were still overcast later in the morning,…

ByMichelleSeptember 23, 20120Comments

Baking Fruit Recipes

Airplanes and Apple Pecan Muffins

I'm in the airport security line. Passengers are taking off their shoes and jackets, putting their laptops and liquids into bins for the x-ray machine. TSA employees are calling out reminders to remove belts and money from pockets. It was a morning flight, so in the bin along with my purse and toiletries, was my breakfast. "Oh, I'm sorry, those muffins can't go through," says the TSA guy. I take a beat, trying to figure out what he's talking about. Then I smile, "Oh, because they look too good, right?"

ByMichelleFebruary 26, 20122Comments

Recipes Side Dishes

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

It might seem like a weird time to be talking about cabbage when everything else in the food world is about sweets or appetizers or booze, but I'm doing it. When we all come out on the other side of these holidays, it'll be time to think about vegetables, including that winter workhorse, cabbage. Like the…

ByMichelleDecember 20, 20111Comment

Entertaining Photo One-offs Side Dishes

Out with the Old, In With the New: Ancho Creamed Corn

This year we had a smaller crew together for Thanksgiving, so I pretty much scaled everything back so that we'd end up with a manageable amount of leftovers (read: a lot of stuffing and only a little of everything else!). In the end, our regular corn pudding was crossed off the list entirely. I even…

ByMichelleNovember 27, 20111Comment

It’s All About the Butternut, Baby

Finding My Way Back: Maple Walnut Squares

Fig Ice Cream Sandwiches with Speculoos Cookies

Chicken Saute with Green Beans, Tomato and Mint

In Season: Kale, Asian Pear & Pomegranate Salad

Ginger Spice Banana Bread is the Holiday Bake You Need

First Day of Fall: Poblano Corn Chowder

Airplanes and Apple Pecan Muffins

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Out with the Old, In With the New: Ancho Creamed Corn

Review: The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren

Book Review: Wisdom Corner by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Book Review: Just for the Season by Rachel Griffiths